The Effect Of Internalized Homophobia On Depression In Sexual Minorities

In recent years,the topic of sexual minorities is increasingly open.Sexual minorities are at greater risk of depression,anxiety,substance abuse,suicidal behavior and health conditions.Among them,depression is a common psychological problem of sexual minorities.In sexual minorities,women with sexual minorities in early adulthood have a greater risk of depression.Depression is a kind of negative emotional experience and a change of mood.The mood changes from calm to low.The individual continues to experience sad,unpleasant or painful emotions,and the loss of this happy feeling has stability and persistence.There are many factors causing depression in sexual minorities.According to the sexual minority stress model,there are mainly internal and external factors,including prejudice,discrimination and stigma,and internal factors,including identity hiding and coming out,and internalized homophobia.Internalized homophobia is an important factor associated with depression of sexual minorities.Currently,there is a lack of specific discussion on the relationship between the two,and the two’s internal mechanisms are still unclear.According to that,the current study was based on internalized homophobia and sexual minority’s depression.There were many variables and factors that might lead to the change of the mechanism of the effect of internalized homophobia on depression.Therefore,this study introduced perceived discrimination and perceived social support to explore the mechanism.In the current study,1408 female sexual minorities in early adulthood were measured using the CES-D Scale,Internalized Homophobia Scale,Perceived Discrimination Scale,and Perceived Social Support Scale.The purpose of this study is to explore the role of perceived discrimination and perceived social support in internalized homophobia and sexual minority depression to understand further the mechanism of internalized homophobia on sexual minority depression.According to the current research results,the following conclusions can be drawn:(1)There are significant differences in demographic variables(place of birth,level of education,current emotional status,etc.)in depression,internalized homophobia,perceived discrimination and perceived social support of sexual minorities.(2)The average depression score of sexual minorities was 22.68,which was lower than the middle level.(3)The average total score of internalized homophobia was 26.89,which was lower than the middle level.(4)Internalized homophobia,sexual minority depression,perceived discrimination and understanding of social support correlate.(5)Perceived discrimination plays a partially mediating role in the relationship between internalized homophobia and sexual minority depression.(6)Perceived social support moderating the relationship between perceived discrimination and sexual minority depression.